Clayton Walker :: euthanasia ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Refusing the confederate conscript, the men of Winston County, Alabama were given a choice to join the confederate army or be killed. Several men, including my great great grandfather, refused to join, were jailed, and minutes before...
James Ryer :: Commentary on the State of Western Democracy – A Visually Sensory Essay ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I have almost exclusively lived in the South. The earlier part of that time was still the Old South: segregation, before the Civi Rights legislation of 1960 and 1964, before there was any real sense of diversity...
Greg Stidham :: Mississippi in Spring
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Am I legitimate? Well, my parents led me to believe so. But legitimately “southern”? I was born in Indiana, lived in Ohio until age five, when we moved to Atlanta when it was still a town–pre-Falcons, pre-Underground...
Eddie Black :: Healing Comes to Morewell Elsewhere ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I come from a place where you save leftover fat in a coffee can for biscuits or eggs or a gravy base. I come from a place where men go from one mother to another right after...
R. Barkley :: Joanna Eden Carmel ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My family moved from NC to TX when I was 1 year old and back to NC when I was 10. Most of my life has been spent within Research Triangle Park’s sphere of influence, but I...
Devin Jacobsen :: Evil in the Object ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Was born and grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. So my hands still deliciously smart from years of attending crawfish boils. Evil in the Object For a while I thought love meant the same thing as doing...
Ocracoke Island, NC
Yes, the April issue is lagging behind, no fooling. I’m on Ocracoke Island, NC. Where the wi-fi is slow and the living is good. If you’re scheduled to be published this month, you’ll be online by Thursday the 13th. I...
Erika Hoffman :: Home Fries Riff ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I attended Duke University aka University of New Jersey, the state where I was born and bred. I married a Georgian fellow I met there and lived in Atlanta for five years before returning to North Carolina...
Candice Kelsey :: Relationship Smarts ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: About nine months ago, I left Los Angeles for Augusta, GA. My back yard pushes up against the Savannah River, and I awake most mornings to the staccato of buck shot aimed at duck or deer. I...
Juan Cruz :: Open All Night ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in Bogotá, Colombia. I lived in South Carolina for almost a decade. I earned a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of South Carolina (the original USC) before moving to Clinton, where I...
Andrew Brasfield :: Green Top ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I live just outside of Birmingham, Alabama, across the creek from where I grew up. Despite spending eighteen years yelling “War Eagle” like my uncle and grandfather, I ended up at the University of Alabama. While attending the...
State of the Mule Address
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I’m so southern, I created the southern legitimacy statement in 1996 when we first started publishing this literary journal. The requirement to send a “statement” seemed fun at the time and necessary later. As the submissions grew,...
James Emery :: Yellow Sodbuster::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My South is dichotomy and contradiction. Trailers to million dollar homes. Homemade apple wine from Mason jars to bottles of bourbon from a call list. Dumplins and banana pudding to grilled triggerfish and cherry clafoutis. A violent...